Modern vehicles, such as automobiles, often include various electrical systems for monitoring and controlling vehicle operation. One such electrical system is known as electronic stability control (ESC). ESC systems improve the handling of vehicles by selectively adjusting the activity of wheels to reduce vehicle understeer and oversteer tendencies. ESC systems often utilize anti-lock braking systems (ABS) and traction control systems (TCS), which are designed to prevent the wheels from slipping, locking, or spinning, by reducing the braking force and power to the wheels, respectively. Other types of vehicle electrical systems for vehicles include, among others, object detection systems and automatic braking systems.
Such vehicle systems often utilize a vehicle velocity as an input for various calculations of the systems. A direction of movement of the vehicle may also be utilized under various circumstances. For example, in ESC systems, vehicle torque might only be adjusted when the vehicle is moving in a forward direction. By way of further example, in an object detection system, an object in front of the vehicle may be more likely to contact the vehicle if the vehicle is moving in a forward direction, and an object behind the vehicle may be more likely to contact the vehicle if the vehicle is moving in a reverse direction. By way of additional example, automatic braking might only be applied if the vehicle is moving in a forward direction. The direction of movement of the vehicle is typically determined using inertial sensor data (such as yaw rate, lateral acceleration, and longitudinal acceleration) and/or transmission data (such as the gear selected by the driver). However, such typical techniques may not always provide optimal results, for example, if the vehicle is in neutral, moving along a hill, and/or transitioning during braking to a wet or icy surface.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an improved method and system for determining a direction of a vehicle, for example that can be utilized under such circumstances in which typical techniques may not provide optimal results. It is further desirable to provide an improved method and system for determining a signed velocity for and indicative of both forward and reverse motions, for example that can be utilized under such circumstances in which typical techniques may not provide optimal results. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.